I

The Wei family belongs to a large family in Ningdu. Their ancestral home is Sichuan and they moved to Fujian in the Southern Song Dynasty. Now it is divided into two groups, one living in southern Jiangxi and the other living in western Fujian.

Judging from his ancestral origin, Wei Jiaju could be from Sichuan or Fujian. However, the Wei family moved to Ningdu very early and can be regarded as a native of Jiangxi.

During the Jiajing period, there was a disaster in Ningdu. The Wei family donated 10,000 tons of food at one time to help the magistrate relieve the victims, which shows his strong financial resources. Jiajing issued the imperial edict, erected an archway, and granted crowns and belts. The Wei family took the opportunity to build the imperial edict gate, so it was also called the "Imperial Edict Gate Wei".

The Wei family insisted on passing down poems and rituals to the family, but it was very embarrassing. In two hundred years, there was not even a single official...

Zhao Han called all the senior officials to a meeting and asked Wei Jiaju to tell him about the situation in Nangan.

Wei Jiaju raised his hands to everyone, repeated what he said before, and added: "Gentlemen, all places in southern Jiangxi are different. Gan County is actually relatively normal. There are very few wealthy tenants around the capital of Ganzhou. The further you go east, , the further south you go, the more Hakka people come from Fujian and Guangdong."

"I see," Chen Maosheng nodded. "No wonder the formation of a farmers' association outside Ganzhou did not meet with much resistance."

Wei Jiaju added: "Even within a county, the situation is different. I am from Ningdu, and I know Ningdu County best. Most of the people in Shangsanxiang in the north of Ningdu are Jiangxi natives; while in Xiasanxiang in the south of Ningdu, all tenant farmers They are from Fujian, and most of them are from Tingzhou, Fujian. Among these Tingzhou people, most are from Shanghang, and a few are from Liancheng."

The more Zhao Han listened, the more headache he got. Regardless of his identity as a Hakka, these tenants who came to call their friends were equivalent to the Fujian migrant workers who came to Jiangxi to work in a group.

What’s even more frightening is that these migrant workers have been living in Jiangxi for several generations, and they don’t have local household registration or land!

They must be given household registration and their fields must be allocated, otherwise it will be a factor of instability.

The situation in the southern Jiangxi area was extremely complicated. When Wang Shouren was suppressing bandits here, he reported to the court in the twelfth year of Zhengde that the Chongyi area was all Cantonese. There are not only Hakkas, but also Yao people, all refugees settled by the governor in the early years. These refugees cut down mountains to open up wasteland and contributed to the development of southern Jiangxi. At the same time, they also had conflicts with the local people. Most of the reclaimed wasteland was occupied by local wealthy families.

In the southern Jiangxi region, the population dropped sharply in the mid-Ming Dynasty, not just because of war.

Many of them could not bear the oppression of landlords and fled to Huguang with their families. At that time, the southern part of Huguang was sparsely populated, and there was a refugee settlement policy authorized by the imperial court. Therefore, Jiangxi farmers fled to open up wasteland. Almost half of the county and half of the county moved to Huguang.

Indigo dye is a specialty of Zhao Han's territory, and the Datong military flag is also dyed blue with this dye.

Indigo planting technology was gradually introduced to Ji'an Prefecture by the Fujian people who moved to southern Jiangxi.

Pang Chunlai suddenly asked: "How come you, the chief registrar of Ningdu County, come to Ji'an Mansion to offer advice?"

Wei Jiaju said very bluntly: "The Wei family is the largest family in Ningdu. My uncle, Zhaofeng, was recruited by the emperor this year to serve as an official. He refused to resign and was called 'Zhengjun'. Every time the county magistrate has political affairs, he must Discuss with Uncle Clan. The saltpeter purchased by Mr. Zhao is all sold by the Wei family!"

Everyone looked at each other, well, the Wei family turned out to be a saltpeter supplier.

Wei Jiaju added: "Now that Ningdu County is in chaos, it will be captured by Mr. Zhao sooner or later. The Wei family knows that it is difficult to secure the land, and I am afraid that it is also difficult to secure the saltpeter mine. Please ask Mr. Zhao to grant the Wei family permission to mine and supply saltpeter after occupying Ningdu. Ningdu There are also sulfur ore and iron ore, please ask Mr. Zhao for permission to mine them."

"There are also sulfur mines?" Zhao Han asked in surprise.

"Yes, and there are quite a few." Wei Jiaju said.

There are sulfur ore and saltpeter here. If you burn charcoal, you will directly collect gunpowder making materials. You can set up a gunpowder making bureau in Ningdu.

Zhao Han thought about it carefully and said: "As long as the Wei family is loyal to the Wei family, I can franchise the Wei family to operate the saltpetre and sulfur mines. However, the Wei family cannot be a monopoly, and two more companies must join in. In this way, the three mines will be mined together. It can be slightly more. As for the iron ore, it must be handed over to a fourth company."

"Thank you Mr. Zhao for your kindness!" Wei Jiaju's purpose of this trip has been achieved.

Zhao Han asked, "You said chaos has broken out in Ningdu County?"

Wei Jiaju replied: "There is a wealthy tenant who has gathered thousands of tenants and is besieging Ningdu County."

Li Banghua felt very strange: "The wealthy tenants rejected the landlords and bullied the tenants. Why did they lead the tenants to revolt again?"

Wei Jiaju replied: "Every time a wealthy tenant incites tenants to cause trouble, they just want to get more permanent tenant rights of land, and then sublease it to ordinary tenants."

"What benefit does this have to ordinary tenants?" Chen Maosheng asked.

Wei Jiaju said with some embarrassment: "Because the wealthy tenants deceived the superiors and deceived the inferiors, the landlords could not collect much rent, so they tried their best to increase miscellaneous expenses. For example, buckets, white water, travel, winter livestock, etc., the original intention was to make the wealthy tenants more They paid the rent, but the wealthy tenants transferred the miscellaneous fees to the tenants. The tenants therefore resented the landlords and were willing to follow the wealthy tenants in revolt just to abolish these miscellaneous fees."

Good guy, these wealthy tenants are really awesome. Not only do they take advantage of all kinds of benefits, but all the disadvantages are borne by the tenants at the lower level, and all the risks are borne by the landlords above.

The more ruthlessly the landlords exploited their tenants, the more wealthy tenants could take advantage of the situation and stir up trouble to gain more benefits for themselves.

Wei Jiaju added, "This time it's different. The bright eyes couldn't help it, and Mr. Zhao once again advocated dividing the land. Those wealthy tenants, under the banner of Mr. Zhao, probably want to seize the landowners' property."

"No matter how many fields they take, won't they be taken away by me in the end?" Zhao Han asked doubtfully.

Wei Jiaju said: "Those wealthy tenants don't even care about the Ming Dynasty, so how can they take Mr. Zhao seriously? Mr. Zhao led troops to divide the fields. I'm afraid they will also incite the tenants to riot!"

Zhao Han sneered and said: "According to you, the landowners in Ningdu County are all kind and innocent people? If they are really kind, I am afraid they would have been swallowed up by the Fujian people long ago!"

"I don't dare... I don't dare to expire Mr. Zhao," Wei Jiaju quickly knelt down and kowtowed. "The landlord himself also raises tenant slaves and has government assistance, so he is not afraid of wealthy tenants."

This damn thing is no longer just class conflict, but also mixed with the conflict between natives and foreigners.

Landlords occupy the means of production and exploit tenants, while wealthy tenants are a group of parasites.

Once the land is forcibly divided, it is likely that landlords and wealthy tenants will unite because their interests are consistent in the face of external threats. And both the wealthy tenants and the tenants were Fujianese from other places. The tenants were very easily incited by the wealthy tenants!

After Wei Jiaju temporarily stepped aside, Zhao Han analyzed Chen Maosheng: "The main contradiction in the southern Jiangxi region is the dual oppression of the lower-class tenants by landlords and wealthy tenants."

"Yes," Chen Maosheng nodded and said, "Not only in southern Jiangxi, but also in all prefectures and counties in the future, it is necessary to prohibit the transfer of farmland to tenants."

Zhao Han said: "Both landlords and wealthy tenants make profits from the land. If the land is divided, the landlords and wealthy tenants will most likely join forces to stop it. However, wealthy tenants cannot be killed directly because they are often the leaders of the tenants. Killing a wealthy tenant may be As a result, countless tenants were incited to revolt.”

Chen Maosheng said: "We must first explain the land allocation policy clearly to tenants and separate them from wealthy tenants."

"Yes," Zhao Han said, "but in the southern Jiangxi area, many tenants speak Hakka, Fujian, and Cantonese. How do you explain the land affairs clearly to the tenants? They can't understand us, so naturally they don't know the land affairs. At that time, the lower-class tenants believed whatever the wealthy tenants said. I'm afraid the wealthy tenants were driven to a panic, and they could spread rumors that we were going to kill all the Fujianese."

Chen Maosheng thought carefully and said: "Since there are not so many people from other provinces in Gan County, we can first preside over the land distribution in Gan County and take the opportunity to let the missionary officers and the backbone of the farmers' association slowly learn to speak Hakka, Fujian and Cantonese."

Zhao Han nodded and said: "You must first learn to speak. You must learn what the tenants at the bottom say. You must take root directly among the tenants! You must warn the missionary officers and the backbone of the peasant association not to distinguish between Jiangxi people, Fujian people, and Cantonese people. Only the working people are our own!"

"Understood!" Chen Maosheng said with cupped hands.

Zhao Han also ordered: "The counties in southern Gansu can be occupied first, but except for Gan County, the other counties are not in a hurry to divide the land. You can make a compromise first and let the landlords and wealthy tenants continue to fight. You can't Let the landlords and wealthy tenants unite to fight against us. Remember, wherever you do things in the future, you must adapt to the times and local conditions, and you cannot copy experience invariably."

Chen Maosheng once again handed over his teachings.

Li Banghua asked: "If the three thousand Fujian soldiers in Ganzhou City do not agree to their request to return home, I am afraid that the people in the city will suffer."

Zhao Han sneered and said: "The promise is that not only will they be let go, but they can also be given travel expenses. All counties in southern Jiangxi are in chaos. We will confiscate their weapons and see how they return to Fujian! I estimate that if they get halfway there, they will... Loot and fight with various local forces. The more chaos they cause, the better we can divide the local forces."

The complex contradictions in southern Jiangxi are very interesting, not only in the Ming Dynasty, but even throughout the entire Qing Dynasty.

According to the "Ningdu Zhili Prefecture Chronicle" of the Qing Dynasty, there was a Tianbing uprising during the Shunzhi period.

The cause was the conflict between the natives and the Hakkas, a vendetta between the Jiangxi landlords surnamed Wen and the wealthy Hakka tenants surnamed Huang. The fight turned into a class struggle. The wealthy tenants surnamed Huang incited the lower-class tenants to demand the abolition of various harsh regulations and the reduction of land rents, in order to attack the landlords surnamed Wen.

After the slogan was shouted, it was unstoppable. All three counties of Shicheng, Ruijin and Ningdu were in riots. Tens of thousands of Hakka tenants formed field soldiers, and indigenous tenants of Jiangxi also began to join. There was even a trend of spreading to the entire southern Jiangxi.

At this point of development, there is no distinction between Jiangxi people and Fujian people, and it is no longer a contradiction between natives and guests. It directly leads to the most essential class contradiction!

Nangan is a super powder keg. It will explode as soon as it is touched, and it will destroy several counties.

Chen Maosheng personally took a boat to Ganzhou and conveyed Zhao Han's order to withdraw troops for dozens of miles and release three thousand Fujian soldiers.

Dogs cannot change their ways of eating shit. These officers and soldiers did not go far and started looting as far as the capital and county.

The landlords and tenants, who were originally fighting each other, were forced to join forces and drive away the three thousand officers and soldiers together. Then they continued to fight, and under the instigation of wealthy tenants, they staged vendettas against locals day after day.

The landlords were defeated by the Tian soldiers and asked Fei Ruhe to lead troops into the county. This was their usual practice of using the government to suppress the tenant farmers.